In the new update I completely revisited all of his accessories to hopefully try to improve them.

Added:

Key ring and keys.

Additional knife on his belt.

Additional accessories in his messenger bag which include; Three small books(one on Botany, another on magic, and his personal notebook), and a magnifying glass in addition to his medicine bottle and syringe.

Modified/upgraded:

Lantern: completely redesigned.

Messenger Bag: Completely redesigned.

Belt: Completely redesigned.

Cape: Slightly modified, recolored chain to black.

Pocket Watch: Recolored chain to black.

Cane: Redesigned handle to be more ornate, resembles a spider eating a snake now. Matteo now holds cane instead of it being inserted through his fingers.

Upside down bat pendant: Slightly modified.

Changes made to Matteo.

Legs: Recolored entire legs to resemble him wearing black trousers, improved functionality of his built in pockets. They now hold his pocket watch more securely and effectively while also improving the shape of Matteo's thighs.

Torso: Recolored most of his torso to do away with black(as much as was possible) and replace it with red or dark red. Supposed to resemble an embroidered shirt over a dark red long sleeve undershirt.

Arms: Reshaped them a little, recolored lower arms to fit in with clothing color scheme.

There's a shot of all the goodies in Matteo's messenger bag on the bottom middle photo. Everything fits in there fairly easily. Its just the right combination of being snug like someone packing the bag full, but not too difficult to get the items in or out, nor does it deform the bag too much. I was surprised at how well this turned out and how sturdy the bag is even though its mostly cloth elements with some framing on the sides and bottom to hold it all together. The cloth elements used are two of each of this awning piece, and this vehicle cover piece.

Matteo has two main forms of fighting. If he's up against a typical human opponent, he'll uses his bare hands, and if the situation calls for it, he'll grab his knives. This usually proves effective.

When the situation gets serious though, Matteo calls upon his Blood Letters These are a special blade materialized from red smoke that appears from his wrists. Most can't seem to figure out where this smoke comes from. .If he dematerializes and rematerializes his blades too often, he begins to experience the symptoms of blood loss, indicating that these mysterious blades have something to do with Matteos blood or essence. As Such, Matteo is limited to how often he can use them or what forms the weapon can take.

Update(3/22/13)Along with Matteo's recent updates, it was time to update the detail layout. Now the Detail Deviation is surprisingly not as arge a file with a bunch of photos. For individual looks at the photos, please visit his MOCpages gallery. (egads did I just link to MOCpages from DA?)</strike>

DirectoryMain Deviation This Is a good starting point to go most places concerning Matteo Version comparison DeviationThis is where you can compare the current version of Matteo to the version that came before it. This is also where you can get info on what all's different about Matteo now. Matteo's Gallery Here's where all things Matteo go to be all Matteo-y and stuff. 's Witching Hour Gallery That contain comic pages, story chapters and some of her own drawn renderings of the good doctor.Bionicle MOCkery folder that stars Matteo as a loveable cantankerous foulmouthed old man causing lots of problems for the other MOCs and me Creator. There's sure to be a laugh or two(I hope).

BioThe backstory for Matteo is rather extensive and not quite fleshed out. Here's the short version.Matteo is part of an ancient race that had the ability to become immortal through a ritual that would make people immune to aging, resilient to disease(but not completely immune), and give increased but no super human strength speed and stamina. is people were wiped out by invaders and he fled before being able to receive immortality. He spent years searching for it and was able to obtain it, but about 30 years later than was normal to where he had reached the age of 50 before immortalizing. It was after this time Matteo traveled and studied to be an apothecary and an expert martial artist. He also trained to be an assassin. Being immortal meant he had many men's lifetimes to study and hone his skills. The most notable powers Matteo his are that of his smoke abilities. Using his own blood as a foundation, Matteo materializes blades from crimson smoke. This allows him to materialize and dematerialize his "Blood letters" instantly, though if done too frequently, he experiences the symptoms of blood loss. His other smoke ability is called "scent intoxication" where he is able to put anyone who inhales it into a drunken stupor. Matteo is a main character in the comic and short story series Witching Hour In this series Matteo is portrayed more as a good guy, though it is explained that he had a complicated past where this wasn't always the case. In this series Matteo has a runin with a nasty beast plaguing the city he was residing and employed in simply known as Plague who after an intense battle infected Matteo with the plague. The reaction with Matteo's body turned the plague into another form of smoke ability. This new ability appeared as varying degrees of black or grey smoke that had varying degrees of effects on people. In its most intense form it infected people with the plague and they would most likely die of the disease as it was resistant to medications. In its slighter form it would cause irreversible psychosis of the mind. This was a trait Matteo in his lighter years rarely used, but was a favorite of his in what was known as The Age of Malice where once again Matteo fell from the path of good and helping others to pursue more selfish endeavors through cruel yet effective tactics. It wasn't until the help of an old friend that he found his way back from these dark pitiful times and repented for his evil ways by once again being an apothecary to the poor and weak, and an assassin of those who would do harm to good folk.

Ok, so this being my first real critique, don't expect anything spectacular. Just a fair warning.

As far as vision goes, I think that four is a fair number for this one. In my humble opinion, the look of an elderly assassin was achieved quite well here. The hunch is well done in my opinion; not overdone nor disproportionate. The weapons and bag also add to the assassin look in my opinion, though if it were me, I'd perhaps have gone with more smaller weapons that can be used for close quarter combat or throwing. Just my preference. Still though, I think that this one captures quite well the look of elderly yet dangerous. (Could use a shotgun cane though, just sayin' )

Ahh originality. This one, I think I shall go with a three and a half on. I've heard it said, and I've said it many times in my life, that there is truly nothing original in this world. This being said, it is very difficult to come up with something with any originality. While I personally love this MOC, I do not think that it is entirely original. I am of the personal belief that one should make things for themselves, no matter if others appreciate them or not, and I believe that this MOC falls under this category. The addition though of the satchel, the pockets (LOVE them pockets. Love 'em.), the watch and other accessories though definitely brought up the originality score for me.

Technique. Probably my most "biased" rating in this critique, earning a solid four in my opinion. I really quite love the techniques used in this MOC, I do. The hunch of the shoulders and the build of the torso are just beautiful. The legs are also really nicely rounded in my opinion, and I love that. I personally though have a few qualms with this build, one of which being the arms, as I personally would have dropped the elbow one stud lower and shortened the forearms one stud. That is once again personal preference though, so I suppose it doesn't really count I also feel that the area around the wrist is kind of thin compared to the rest of the arms, though I understand why this was done, so I can really let that one go. The posability though is really nice for a MOC like this, and that always wins some points with me. Overall, I really like this one, (I will be stealing that design for the thighs, fair warning ) and it is certainly better than I could do.

Impact... This one I think a three and a half would be appropriate. I personally feel that this one makes a nice impact, but does not make a spectacular one. Again, maybe I'm just biased, or stupidly blind, but while I love this MOC, I don't think that it creates a stunning impact. It does not have a truly "unused" color scheme; even I've used mata red, metru red, and black before. It is also not an unseen look. Still though, the posability wins points with me on this one because I honestly would not have bet that such would be possible. (And yes, I do see those clear bricks in there. Those did not go unnoticed ) Overall, this one gets a medial impact rating from me. You don't like it, sue me

And I do believe that sums it up. Give yourself a pat on the back if you read that whole thing and didn't doze off or wonder what the heck I was talking about halfway through.

Dayum man. I do like this guy, but those accessories are FREAKIN awesome. Makes me want to expand what my MOC's carry with them. (Coughs) I'd write a review but I've got a really sick bug. Kudos to you anyway. Um, where did his eyes go?

Sorry to hear that you're sick Russel. I think some nasty colds have been going around this year. I've had a bit of a cold for a while now to. Nothing too bad though.

Thanks. Well, its not hard. You just gotta think about the normal crap people carry around with them in day to day life, then figure out how to include it on the MOC. For Matteo, I just thought about what kinds of things a plague doctor/assassin would need and voila, stuff!

Matteo is really looking better than ever! He looks a lot more sturdy, which I love, but you kept his lankiness in there. I think the colors of the lamp add a good contrast against his colors. Job very well done, overall.

Thanks Olivia. Yeah I wanted something that felt separate from him. I initially wanted that out of all his accessories, but I figured that someone who went through the trouble to have that kind of mask, hat and getup would have gear that fit it more than contrasted it. But the Lantern is a totally separate entity, so it made sense for it to be different. The bag and the belt kind of have that to, but they at least look like they're part of his attire to some degree. I thought about making the belt brown, but I also figured red leather even back during the black death might not be such a stretch, so I went with dark red.

I know right? I love using Chains in MOCs they're so fun and provide a great texture to the MOC. I love any chance I get to use rubber, cloth or anything else that give the MOC a different look other than hard plastic.

Those are his goggles. They're resting above his mask. The eyes of the mask are his eyes to. I've put a white 2 long axle in there to better represent his eyes and I've removed the goggles. These photos are slightly out of date, but not enough to redo this.

Thank you so much for this comment. I'm glad the Experience comes across. That was the intention even before Matteo evolved into the character that he is, to look old, and wise, possibly even feeble, but for it to be deceiving, and him actually being quite dangerous. I'm glad you think he looks original to. That's hard to achieve these days. Really, thank you for this wonderful comment.

I love all the accessories you made for him, as well as his build. He'd benefit strongly from a cloak or coat of some kind, I feel. A Zerg cape would fit him marvellously if you came across one... or you could make your own. As always, Matteo is one of my favourite Self-MOCs due to how far afield from the norm I see his inspiration has come from. Plus, I finally got what you meant by Bionicle pockets!

I also imagine him to have a really thick Haitian accent. Is that accurate? XD

You know I got a Furno XL cape and I tried it out on several people. Matteo is actually the least qualified MOC of mine to have a cape. He's more of a long coat kind of guy. Capes are a little too much. A cape seems a little too bombastic or glorified for Matteo, even though he was alive during the various eras where capes were in fashion. Then there's the fact a cape and his shoulder spike things don't really work together. While the human version of Matteo doesn't have these, I'm not getting rid of them on the MOC. A zurg cape might work, but yeah don't have any at the Moment. I may tinker with that once I get some though. That's the thing I hate about self MOCs, they're always so bland, unoriginal, and people make multiple self MOCs. I made Matteo my selfMOC moreso cause people kept asking me which one was my selfMOC.

Italian actually. Though thinking about it, it would probably be Italian with a mix of something else since he's native to a race of people akin to the Atlantins, then fled to Italy during the genocide of his people. So various European accents with a stronger Italian accent I think would fit him best.